One Night Only (Season 1: Deni's Story)

Chapter Twenty-Five

I'm already on the raft again, my eyes hidden behind my sunglasses, by the time Hunter and Paisley return to the lake. I still don't know what to say to Hunter when he picks up the inner tube and joins me in the water, and so I continue to float on the raft, not saying a word, and pretend to be fully absorbed in the activity of soaking up the sun.

Hunter is also quiet for a few minutes. When I sneak a glance in his direction, hoping to read his face or body language for clues about what he's thinking, I catch him observing me.

"What?" I ask.

He doesn't answer me immediately, but takes my question as an invitation to paddle the inner tube closer to where I am. His movement gets Paisley and Brooke's attention, and I try to ignore their inquisitive stares.

"I think I owe you an apology. Things got a little awkward inside." Hunter runs a hand through his hair, and he seems both nervous and embarrassed. I briefly wonder what part of the conversation that happened inside he's apologizing for, or if he means all of it, when he speaks again. "I swear on everything your name didn't come up with Trinity. I wouldn't use you that way."

So it's this part he means. I'm relieved he isn't apologizing for the teasing and flirting, but then I realize he also doesn't regret his comment about being friends and nothing more. Something in me deflates, which is ludicrous because it shouldn't matter. I'm far too wound up about this.

"The thought that you would never crossed my mind," I assure him. "I'm just glad to hear you got through a conversation with her, since I know you were worried about it."

"Yeah. I don't know why I said what I did. It kind of slipped out, you know?" The lost-little-boy vibe he gives off when he says this convinces me he's telling the truth.

"I get it," I tell him. And I do. "I would probably do the same thing if I felt put on the spot by a conversation with my ex."

Hunter starts to respond, but his words die from his lips. He looks past my shoulder, at the shore. I adjust my position on the raft so I can follow his line of sight and spot a tall, athletic-looking guy wearing a hat and sunglasses making his way down to the lake. It takes me a few seconds, but I realize the guy is Adam.

"Hey Deni, it's good to see you!" Adam calls out to me. Then he addresses Hunter. "Are you ever going to answer your texts again, or what?"

"My phone is inside," Hunter replies. "I'll answer my messages when I see them."

"You haven't seen your messages in three days? That's when I asked you about dropping by tonight." Adam walks to the end of the dock, closer to where we are.

I'm almost certain Hunter's shoulders tense up at Adam's question, but then he flops back against the inner tube, his head facing the sky, and I can no longer be sure.

"I didn't know I would be back today until last night," he says. "I thought I'd still be in town."

"Then it's a good thing I saw signs of life over here when I was driving by. You're here, so I hope that means I'll see both of you. I'm sure you invited Deni to my birthday bash like I asked you to, right?"

There has been no mention of Adam's birthday or a get-together today, even though Hunter extended invitations to go swimming and watch the meteor shower tonight. I wonder if it slipped his mind, or if he was planning to skip Adam's party.

"Of course he did." I infuse my voice with a bright tone. "We'll definitely be there."

My response gets Hunter's attention. He raises his head when he hears me say this, which tells me what his plans were. He probably isn't thrilled about my RSVP for both of us, but my intentions are good and he has to know that. It's Adam's birthday, after all, and not just some random party like the last one he skipped out on a few days ago. Plus, I don't want to get him in trouble by revealing to Adam that this is the first time I've heard about tonight's event.

"Thank you for making him come out of exile," Adam says to me, and then he looks at Hunter. "She's so much cooler than you. Don't even try to find a reason to back out."

"We won't back out," he replies, but I'm not sure I believe him. He sounds less than enthusiastic.

"What time should we be there?" I ask Adam.

"Aim for around eight o'clock. If I don't see you, I'll send a search party that can help you drag him there." He juts his chin in Hunter's direction. "He needs to get out again and remember what fun is."

"I can hear you, and I remember what fun is," Hunter complains. "Isn't this your second party in a week, though?"

"The first one was more of a barbecue with a few friends, which you'd know if you had come. You've been missing in action for months." Adam jingles his keys in his hands. "I've got to take off and get a few things ready, but I'll see both of you tonight."

"We're looking forward to it," I tell him. Hunter gives Adam a mock salute but doesn't chime in to agree with me.

He waits until Adam is no longer in view before speaking. "I guess this means we aren't watching the meteor shower tonight?"

I can't decide if he's joking with me right now, or if he's disappointed, or if he's grasping at a reason to avoid the party and hopes reminding me about our meteor shower plans will change my decision about going.

"We'll make an appearance at Adam's party and decide if we want to watch it after that," I say. "You know it doesn't get dark here until after ten."

I don't know if stargazing with him tonight is a wise idea. My mind is still reeling from his hot-and-cold bounce between flirting and friend-zoning me in front of Paisley. Being alone with him to watch shooting stars isn't likely to make me any less frazzled.

"Cool." He leans back on the inner tube again, and I sense my answer isn't the one he wanted.

I'd like to think his shift in mood is because he wants to watch the meteor shower with me tonight, and I'm not making any promises that we will. My gut tells me it has more to do with him not wanting to run into his ex-girlfriend and ex-best-friend at Adam's party.

"I'll be with you and you can talk to me, and to Adam, and to other people who aren't the people you want to avoid," I remind him. "We don't have to stay long, but I thought it would be rude to say we aren't going when he's your friend and it's his birthday."

"Who said I didn't want to go or that there are people I'm avoiding?" he asks.

"It was an educated guess since it's why you skipped the last party. I thought it would be all right to go tonight. It sounded like talking to Trinity at Paisley's graduation went okay."

"Sort of. It depends on your definition of okay." He won't look at me, and now I wonder what happened during their conversation aside from him claiming to be seeing someone.

"She might not even be there," I continue, aware I'm blathering on but at a loss for what else to do. Hunter's mood is one I'm struggling to read.

"It's fine. It's just--" He pauses and glances at something past my shoulder. "Can we talk about this when we don't have an audience trying to listen in?"

Oh right. Paisley and Brooke are still here, and Brooke is his ex's sister. Now I understand why he's become tight-lipped about the topic, since anything Brooke overhears could be reported back to Trinity. I want to kick myself for not considering this.

"You got it. I almost forgot they were here."

I settle back on the raft again and stare out at the lake. I'm tempted to splash water at Hunter, or to let my gaze linger on him so he'll accuse me of admiring him again, just to lighten things up. I don't do either of these things, and I don't know why the events of this afternoon are starting to stress me out.

This will pass, and tonight will be fine, I think. Nothing will be weird between Hunter and me, even if I'm the reason he has to show up at Adam's party and possibly encounter his ex-girlfriend for the second time this week, along with his ex-best-friend. We'll both relax and enjoy ourselves, even if my head and heart are torn between respecting the platonic boundary we set today and wanting him to flirt with me the way he was before Paisley interrupted us.

I tell myself this until a breeze kicks up and makes me shiver. When the breeze grows stronger and we decide to call it an afternoon for swimming and floating around on the lake, I still don't know if tonight will go smoothly at all, or if what was shaping up to be my summer crush is anything more than an unrequited daydream.